Chandigarh: Captain Amrinder Singh was sworn in as the 26th Chief Minister of Punjab on Thursday as the Congress formed the government in the state. He along with cricketer-turned-politician Navjot Singh Sidhu and 8 other ministers took the oath of office and secrecy which was administered by Governor VP Singh Badnaur.

Singh has won the 2017 state assembly elections from Patiyala constituency of the state.

Singh is the first one, in the history of Congress party, to be appointed as the CM of Punjab for the second time. The state has never been ruled by the same person for another time before 2017. He has, earlier, served as the CM during 2002 to 2007.

It could be mentioned that Congress has come to power in the state after 10 years. The party won 77 seats out of the total 117 in the 2017 assembly elections.

The state permits the appointment of as many as 18 ministers in the government and 9 out those have been apointed but the ministries have not be allotted to them yet. It was being speculated, earlier, that Sidhu could be appointed as the deputy CM of the state.

Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi and former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh also marked their presence in the swearing-in ceremony of the ministers.

Punjab has been served by five Congress CMs since the day it was re-cofihured as a state in 1996.